ITF denounces “deliberate obstructionism” in Kuwait airline dispute

October 23, 2011

The ITF has condemned tactics employed by the executive board of Kuwait Airways to delay agreement on a settlement for the company’s workers.
Workers represented by the ITF-affiliated Kuwait Airways Workers’ Union had reached a tentative settlement earlier this month, giving them the same benefits as other public sector workers; the airline is currently state-owned, but privatisation is looming.
However, the ITF has since learned that, after a 10-day negotiating period, the executive board of the airline has rejected outright a proposal put forward by the union without even reading it.
In a letter dated 20 October to Kuwait’s prime minister, Nasser Mohammed Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah, ITF general secretary David Cockroft stated: “It is difficult to see this as anything other than deliberate obstructionism, taking advantage of the pending privatisation of the enterprise.”
He urged the government and its ministry of transport to act to ensure that the matter was settled. He said: “It is no surprise that the union itself has lost confidence in the management and instead is looking to your government for the decisive action that the executive board seems unwilling to take. The ITF can only share their concern, and call upon the government of Kuwait to again involve itself in search of a satisfactory solution.”

The ITF has condemned tactics employed by the executive board of Kuwait Airways to delay agreement on a settlement for the company’s workers.
Workers represented by the ITF-affiliated Kuwait Airways Workers’ Union had reached a tentative settlement earlier this month, giving them the same benefits as other public sector workers; the airline is currently state-owned, but privatisation is looming.
However, the ITF has since learned that, after a 10-day negotiating period, the executive board of the airline has rejected outright a proposal put forward by the union without even reading it.
In a letter dated 20 October to Kuwait’s prime minister, Nasser Mohammed Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah, ITF general secretary David Cockroft stated: “It is difficult to see this as anything other than deliberate obstructionism, taking advantage of the pending privatisation of the enterprise.”
He urged the government and its ministry of transport to act to ensure that the matter was settled. He said: “It is no surprise that the union itself has lost confidence in the management and instead is looking to your government for the decisive action that the executive board seems unwilling to take. The ITF can only share their concern, and call upon the government of Kuwait to again involve itself in search of a satisfactory solution.”

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